Describing Colors to Blind People

Tommy Edison, who has been blind since birth, describes what it’s like not knowing what colors are. It’s interesting to think about how one would go about describing colors to a blind person who has never seen anything in their entire lives. Really, how would someone describe colors without using descriptors that only pertain to color?

Attempting to use other senses to describe it, as Edison points out, is futile since the association between the two senses doesn’t previously exist.

Also, it caused me to think about this question as well: are black and white actually colors? I was under the impression that white was all the colors smooshed together reflecting back at your eye, while black is the complete absence of color reflection.

Any way you put it, there’s no real possibly way to try and describe color to a blind person. But Tommy Edison seems to be okay with that.

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nonerkylie
Nona and Kylie are butt-kicking web mods who are dedicated to curating the finest internet content.

http://electricreader.blogspot.com/ Moosh: Hat Enthusiast

I wonder what it would be like for a man like Mr. Edison to suddenly gain perfect sight. I’ve seen vids of people gaining hearing for the first time in their lives thanks to advanced hearing aids, and it seems to have a profound impact on them emotionally. I wonder what it would be like for sight.

TruuuV

It must be the reaction to hearing multiplied like a thousand times over. I’d also assume it’d be quite uncomfortable initially getting used to being bombarded by images after seeing nothing for upwards of like 30-40 years.

Blinghamstar

Probably the same, til he saw yo mamma and promptly took the glasses off.

MynameisBlarney

From what I’ve read about it, it can be sensory overload for them, their brains ain’t wired for it.

Blinghamstar

Dude, it’s bad enough getting a new vision prescription. I don’t need to see every goddamn leaf on the trees! TOO MANY INFORMATIONS!

PostyPosterson

It would be a horrible, insensible visual cacophony. I read recently about a man who gained sight for the first time at 50-something. It was so horrible for him that he committed suicide.

Terence Ng

Doesn’t the brain need time to adjust to new senses? I feel like you’d have to gradually move someone through levels of sight, from dark cloudiness to brighter clarity to help them through it. It seems awful to suddenly introduce a sense with no context or adjustment.

TruuuV

In reference to your question I always wondered what you would see if the entire universe was invisible. Would you see black or does nothingness go on for ever and there is an endless stream of light from seemingly nowhere hitting you which causes the world to be white?

http://electricreader.blogspot.com/ Moosh: Hat Enthusiast

Somewhat related: the reason the entire night sky is not dominated by light is partially due to the speed of objects moving away from us increasing as distance increases. The end effect is the light from very distant objects is red-shifted into the non-visible spectrum, so they cannot be viewed normally.

TruuuV

Yeah, that and the immigrants!

(Seems to work when I lose track of the point someone is making, does it work here? What am I even asking for, it totally works)

http://electricreader.blogspot.com/ Moosh: Hat Enthusiast

More immigrants = more light pollution = less visible stars!

TruuuV

Just… I didn’t even imagine that would possibly…. Upvote.

Slartibartfatsdomino

I’ve got wisps in my beard that are heather mist. Shows what you know, Mr. Edison!

Blinghamstar

Maybe he could see if he opened his eyes…?

OK, really callous joke that I thought was funny at the time aside…

Explaining colors via sounds is probably the best/easiest way to do it in my opinion. Sound and light both have frequencies and wavelengths. High spectrum colors would be like high pitch sounds, and low spectrum colors like low pitch sounds. I’ve heard sounds described as ‘bright, dull, sharp, flat, murky, cold, warm, fuzzy,’ etc., which are also descriptors for colors. Certainly sound has been used to describe colors in the past. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RM7cQCC4sU

This gave me a great thought… paint by numbers for blind people, BUTHOW??! you ask… assign a particular pitch to a particular color, with a camera that tracks the brush/pen over the canvas. The pitch played in the headphones corresponds to the brush/pen position on the paper. OR, as a variation, take the same concept and use it to ‘view’ art… the stylus is moved across the painting and different pitches, corresponding to particular colors, play.

I read the bit about describing colours with sounds and went off into my own little world, I’ve just realised I’ve been describing sounds to myself with noises for far longer than I should have.

“Well red would be more CHAAA where as blue is more like Hmmmmm and then you’ve got blacks like *death metal scream*”

I finally snapped out of it when I stumbled on the concept of a rainbow and made a noise that was like dubstep going through a washing machine.

It’s strangely enjoyable, I’d advise everyone try it.

http://dailyoftheday.com/ Lascivious Lass

Is this without weed?

TruuuV

I’m a mental case, I don’t need drugs or alcohol for the fucked up thoughts.

It’s one of the perks of the deal.

http://dailyoftheday.com/ Lascivious Lass

Niiiice!

Terence Ng

How would you describe pink? Pink is just the combination or red and violet wavelengths, bouncing back colors. Would the associated sounds from the wavelengths sound appeasing together? And would they provide the same aesthetic as the color?

Blinghamstar

I’d think color mixing would be equated with tonal mixing. Obviously there are many ways to play a note, just as there are many shades of the same color. We take visual acuity for granted, but someone lacking sight (or just really well trained) has sharp aural acuity, to detect very subtle nuances. So “aesthetically” speaking, it could certainly be done, I believe.

MynameisBlarney

That guy is hilarious!

Ari

There are two color systems: additive color and subtractive color. Additive deals with the light spectrum (red, green, and blue light) and subtractive deals with pigments (cyan, yellow, and magenta).
Pigments absorb colors from light (hence ‘subtractive’), so combining all the pigments absorbs all the colors of light, appearing black (think about mixing paints). By contrast white light itself is a combination of the visible spectrum (think about your TV screen).

Black and white are colors if you’re thinking of pigments. If you’re thinking of light, black is the absence of visible spectrum light (no color), while white is the presence of all visible spectrum light (all colors).

Fun fact: plants look green because chlorophyll a and b absorb visible spectrum light quite well at all visible wavelengths besides green, which is reflected back to our eyes (most of what they absorb is in the blue/violet/ultraviolet and red). Leaves change to red/yellow/orange as the chlorophyll is drawn out of the leaves, back into the branches/trunk to conserve energy for next year… as the chlorophyll leaches out of the leaves, the spectrum of light being reflected shifts and we see the pretty fall colors.

MynameisBlarney

BOOM!

Science’d!

http://www.facebook.com/devon.avis.9 Devon D Avis

Fact! But these comment is in the wrong place.

JohnnyBrillcream

When I dream, I dream in color (sounds like a verse from a bad ’80′s song). So when he dreams is it visual and if so is there some sort of color. Now If I can get someone to answer that in Lawrence Fishburn’s voice.

Conspiracy Einstein

I can explain to someone what the ocean sounds like. Birds, too. That’s not a good example.